Chevalier Morales has designed the 900 Saint-Jacques tower in Montreal's Quartier des Gares. This is a 63-storey mixed-use building project that features a sculpted precast concrete envelope with interwoven thread and cruciform patterns.
The 900 Saint-Jacques tower boasts four levels of underground parking, a 12-storey Moxy hotel, and approximately 700 rental residential units across 48 storeys. The sizable mixed-use building project also incorporates a network of shared amenities, including terraces, gardens, a restaurant, community spaces, a shared kitchen, coworking areas, and relaxation zones accessible to both residents and hotel guests.
Chevalier Morales strategically used precast concrete for the envelope because the material promises to improve winter energy performance by approximately 25% compared to conventional glass façades, which means lower heating costs and greater comfort during Montreal's harsh winters. This is seen as a tangible benefit for anyone who has experienced drafty, inefficient high-rise apartments.
Image Credit: Maxime Brouillet
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Sculpted Precast Concrete Envelopes
- The use of sculpted precast panels enables façade-as-assembly approaches that can lower thermal losses and differentiate urban skylines.
- Climate-responsive Envelope Design
- Climate-adaptive envelope strategies promise substantial energy savings in cold climates by replacing glazed curtain walls with high-performance opaque systems.
- Mixed-use Amenity Integration
- Integrated shared amenities within mixed-use towers create new models for monetizing communal space and extending guest-resident service ecosystems.
Where This Applies
- Residential High-rise Development
- Developments focused on rentals could leverage optimized precast envelopes to reduce operating heating costs and improve occupant comfort year-round.
- Hospitality and Co-living
- Hotels combined with long-term rentals suggest hybrid revenue streams where shared amenity packages blur traditional lodging boundaries.
- Prefabrication and Modular Construction
- Advanced precast manufacturing introduces possibilities for mass-customized sculptural panels that shorten onsite assembly and improve quality control.
